Trial By Lightning
by library.of.crazy221b
Summary: Claudia is stuck in the Warehouse in the middle of a thunderstorm, Steve is down with a head cold, Pete eats some doughnuts and Myka get's irritated with him. Oh, and there's a lady wandering down the road in Rapid City and something is definitely not right...(right, first attempt was failure...second time's the charm?)
1. Chapter 1

Claudia was bored. Of course, she was often stuck at the Warehouse by herself, but this was a new record on the boredom scale. It was like, a 9.6. If it were the Richter scale, it would have been a catastrophic earthquake. Pete and Myka were off looking for some knife that belonged to Hernan Cortes, which apparently had a nasty habit of turning people to gold. Artie was at a meeting with the Regents, HG was God knows where, and of course, Jinksy was in bed with a nasty head cold. So, Claudia had been left at the Warehouse with a list of chores, and the never ending inventory hovering over her head. Along with completing everything on her to-do list, Claudia had also managed to play twelve games of solitaire and score twelve-million on pinball.

Having exhausted the entertainment value of computer games, she browsed over her list once again, flicking each item on the list as she did so, and speaking them out loud in turn.

"Update firewalls, repair autovac - again - install Tesla coil," she paused, looking over at the miniaturized version of the Tesla coil they used for target practice. After Pete had accidentally discharged his Tesla in the office and frazzled some of the computer hardware, there had been a mutual agreement that a safety coil should be installed. Thankfully, Claudia had been able to save the system, but she had been forced to pull an all nighter to do so. Pete of course, had been humbled by the near disaster. This particular coil was small, but it would attract any electrical energy that wasn't running through the computers, and hopefully keep them safe. She'd also rigged it as a gigantic surge protector as well, so if by some strange and terrible miracle the Warehouse had a power outage, the computers and all their data would be safe.

Claudia had already tested it with her mini-Tesla, but her bored and overactive brain was itching to try out her full sized one. She knew Artie would disapprove of her firing a Tesla all over the office, but she had to fend off the boredom in some way or another. Besides, she could slide the blame off her own shoulders and onto his; he'd dropped her off at the Warehouse at six in the morning, all alone, and without a car. She'd begged him to let her take the car, but after her little fender bender a few weeks ago, Artie was convinced that Claudia would never hold the keys to her lovely Prius again.

"God Artie, it wasn't even my fault," she grumbled aloud, as if that settled her decision. By her reckoning, the deer had materialized magically in front of her car. It may have even been an artifact.

Jumping up from Artie's chair, the youth bounded over to her bag and fished out her Tesla. Thankfully it was fully charged, so she took a moment to select a target in the room. Her eyes landed on the old suit of armor, and a grin crept onto her face. The stupid thing had been blown up numerous times before and still managed to put itself back together again; it could handle it. She raised her Tesla.

"Target acquired. Locked on," she whispered dramatically. She fired the Tesla, and the air was filled with crackling electricity. Her aim was perfect, but to her immense satisfaction, the electrical current bowed midair, and changed course, bouncing lightly off the the suit of armor and into the coil. Claudia punched the air in triumph, and turned her Tesla up to full power. She fired again, with the same results. Oh how she loved the Warehouse and it's weird ways with technology.

"Uh, who's fabulous?" Claudia asked the suit of armor. She grinned, firing a shot at the computer. White hot energy bounced into the Tesla coil, leaving the computer completely unharmed. "Oh yes, that would be _moi._" Needless to say, she got no response or praise from either the suit of armor or the computer. Already bored with her newfound entertainment, she tossed her Tesla onto the desk again and flopped back into Artie's chair, staring up at the ceiling.

"Artie, if I go crazy in here, I'm blaming you," she told the sheetrock sternly. It didn't respond, and the twenty-two year old narrowed her eyes and groaned aloud. "Please, there's got to be something else to do other than inventory."

She had almost put the question to the Warehouse itself, as if daring it to entertain her. However, it would be just her luck that on the one day she _didn't_ have anything to do, nothing happened. If Jinksy were here, she would at least be able to talk to him, but he had been sniffing and coughing nonstop when they'd been doing inventory yesterday, and the last thing Claudia wanted was to come down with something.

She was considering making her way to the pillow isle to take a nap when something suddenly caught her attention. Jerking herself upright, Claudia cocked her head to one side, like a dog listening to a whistle. Something was off.

"Is it just me or..." she stopped as her voice rang through the room, and then dissolved into silence. She looked around. "Of course..." she breathed.

Silence.

The Warehouse was never silent. It was always making noises, whether the whirr of the air conditioning, or the crackling of static electricity, or the low, distant rumble of the Neutralizer Processing Center (although that was such a long word, she usually just called it the Gooery). However, just at the moment, it was frighteningly still and calm. Of course, it was impossible to completely silence the Warehouse; Claudia could still hear the distant crackles and rumbling, yet for some reason, they seemed subdued. Almost as if they shouldn't have been there, or were some sort of memory of a sound. It was like the ringing, oddly peaceful, yet terrifying calm before a massive thunderstorm.

As if on cue, there was a foreboding rumble overhead that made Claudia start so terribly that she nearly fell out of her seat. She looked around wildly, as if to locate the source of the sound.

"I didn't mean it!" she said, her voice rising a notch. "I really don't mind being bored! I can do inventory! Or take a nap! Or even look up an artifact that throws deer in front of cars!"

Her plea was answered by another resounding boom. Finally, the young tech got her wits together and raced to the office window, looking out into the Warehouse. Everything appeared normal, so there was nothing wrong with the Gooery - which was good, seeing as it was it's responsibility to keep all of the artifacts in check - and there were no alarms going off, nor were the computers telling her anything. No artifact disturbance, no nothing.

It appeared that there was a genuine storm building outside.

Suddenly, there was a flash as the Tesla coil lit up like a Christmas tree, followed by a crash of thunder that seemed to reverberate throughout the whole Warehouse. Claudia gripped the desk uneasily as she watched the three foot coil tremble and flicker. It was almost as if it was the source of the storm, yet the very idea was impossible. There was another blinding flash and deafening crack, at last sending the young agent under the desk in a panic.

Part of her mind was confused: why was a thunderstorm so frightening to her? Odds were it was just another misbehaving artifact that needed to be bagged or neutralized, as it was impossible that a normal thunderstorm could build so quickly. Everything in the Warehouse had a mind of it's own, and sometimes they just acted up. The coil was taking the brute force of the lightning, so the odds of her being fried were slim. She'd been in far worse situations and remained calmer than she was now.

Yet as the office shook with another powerful thunderclap, Claudia pulled out her phone with trembling fingers, and dialed Steve.

"Come on Jinksy, please pick up," she whispered desperately. "Please please please!"

However, when her friend's steady, reassuring voice answered, it was a recording, politely asking her to leave her name and number.

"Damn it, Jinksy!" she yelled. She was about to hang up when all of a sudden, the lights in the Warehouse shut off. It was an emergency protocol to protect the artifacts from static electricity in the event of a highly charged atmosphere. Claudia froze momentarily, holding her breath in fear. She didn't notice the beep of the answering machine. Blinking furiously, she tried to squint through the darkness, but it was useless. For a moment, all she could hear was the pounding of her heart.

In a split seconds, the office was like an inferno. The coil burned with furious light that blazed white hot, thunderclaps shook the office like some sort of cage, and Claudia dropped her phone as her hands clapped over her ears, a terrified scream escaping her lips. Bunching her knees up to her chest, she squeezed her eyes shut and ducked her head between her legs as heat rolled off the coil in vicious waves. She wasn't aware of anything other than her fear, and even as the light subsided and the thunderclaps became distant, Claudia remained where she was, trembling underneath the desk.


	2. Chapter 2

**Claudia**

Claudia had no idea how long she sat there. There was a part of her that knew she was still conscious, and another part of her that had taken the bit and run wild, still making her see flashes of light, and echoes of gunshot thunderclaps in her ears. It was like some sort of night terror. She was so distracted that she didn't even hear her own phone ringing, nor her Farnsworth. It just rang, and rang, and there was a part of Claudia's consciousness that wanted to answer it, but she was completely petrified with fear.

Finally, it stopped ringing, and she was alone in the office again with all of the lights out. The only thing that was still casting off light was the Tesla coil, which was burning eerily from it's place in the office. It flickered brighter and dimmer, little bursts of static electricity erupting from it every so often, and it illuminated the office with a morbid, dull yellow glow. She found herself staring at it as the only source of light in the Warehouse, and she couldn't tear her eyes off of it.

Suddenly, the Umbilicus door flew open, causing her to start so badly that she hit her head on the underside of the desk. She heard the sound of rapid breathing and the skidding of shoes on the floor as the person came to a sudden halt. She could just barely see an outline standing in the doorway.

"Claudia?"

Sweet, wonderful relief washed over her like a warm cup of coffee as the familiar, yet raspy voice filled the room. He sounded worried as hell underneath the cold. Claudia allowed herself to exhale before she answered.

"Over here," she called quietly, so relieved that she could barely speak.

"Hold on," Steve said as he cleared his throat loudly, rummaging around in his pockets before finally extracting what he was looking for. She watched his dim form make it's way towards her, his own Tesla illuminating the room far better than the spastic coil in the corner, which was now beginning to splutter with less enthusiasm.

Claudia hesitantly shimmied her way out from under the desk, and her partner finally spotted her and breathed a sigh of relief. He dropped down next to her.

"Jeez, Claud, you just about gave me a heart attack," he said softly. "Are you okay? All I got was a phone message with you screaming your head off and what sounded like a train coming through the office."

"Sorry," Claudia muttered, embarrassed. "I mean, it was a false alarm, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"No, it's fine, I'd have wasted the morning,"

Suddenly, the lights came back on again as the threat of static charges was now confirmed to be gone, illuminating the room nicely, and causing both agents to squint and blink a little to adjust. Steve grinned at her weakly, and Claudia felt horrible.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know what made me freak out," she said. Steve shook his head, pausing a moment to cough, and then turning his attention back to her.

"Claud, really, I look worse than I feel," he said. "Now are you sure you're alright?"

Claudia nodded.

"You want to tell me what happened?"

Claudia groaned and slowly got to her feet, covering her face with her hand. Steve coughed again, sniffling slightly. She looked up, the Tesla coil still flickering.

"Could we talk about this over a cup of tea at the B&amp;B?"

**Myka**

Myka Bering shook her head and laughed despite herself. She wasn't sure whether she was ashamed or amused by her partner's foolish actions, but either way, she had to help him out. However, before bagging the golden handled knife once owned by Hernan Cortes, she gently tapped the life sized, human statue in front of her. It was solid gold, and the figure it depicted was that of a man with an extremely smug expression on his face.

"I'm always watchful," Myka said in a surprisingly good imitation of her partners voice. "I promise you, I won't get caught off guard."

He'd said all of that seconds before he'd been turned into solid metal as a gloved hand had touched the blade to his neck. Myka had acted immediately; when the guy had knocked the stun gun out of her hand, he hadn't accounted for the mini-Tesla she'd borrowed from Claudia. It had fit nicely down her shirt. She stowed it in her pocket and pulled out a static bag to neutralize the knife. However, as she held the knife in her purple gloved hand, she had to revel in her glory for a moment, gazing down at her partners frozen, smug expression.

"You owe me a doughnut," she said with a sigh as she dropped the knife into the static bag. There was a spark of static electricity, and suddenly her partner stumbled forward, blinking rapidly.

"Doughnuts," he said stupidly.

"So you _did_ hear me," Myka said smugly, folding her arms. Pete looked over at her, his brow crinkling.

"What?" he asked in a would-be-innocent voice. Myka snickered and slapped him on the shoulder.

"So watchful," she said silkily. Her partner made a face.

"Well at least I looked good," he spat. "I was probably worth a lot of money too."

"Oh shut up. Come on, let's get this back to the Warehouse so we can have lunch, I'm starving," Myka said.

"Hey, that's my line," Pete grumbled. His partner ignored him, stowing away the bagged knife, and heading out of the antique shop. With a heavy sigh, he followed her. He was never going to live this one down.

They picked up doughnuts on the way back (which Pete generously "offered" to buy) to the B&amp;B, but only after stopping at the Warehouse to drop off the knife. Neither of them were overly concerned when Claudia wasn't there; she was probably in the depths of the Warehouse, or perhaps she'd managed to beg Steve to come pick her up. Myka had forced Pete to have only one doughnut in the car, and he moped and griped about it all the way into the inn.

"You know," he said. "I don't think I've ever been that cruel to you."

"It was good for you, and now Claudia and Steve can have doughnuts too," Myka countered with a grin. As an answer, her partner reached into the bag and shoved a jelly doughnut into his mouth.

"Seefe's ick," Pete said through a mouthful of doughnut. "Ee on't ont one."

"Was that human speech I just heard?" came a voice from the dining room. Both Claudia and Steve were sitting in the dining room, each with a cup of tea. Steve looked exactly how they'd left him; red-nosed and sniffling, while Claudia looked distinctly ruffled.

"I thought you were going to stay in bed today," Myka noted to Steve. "And Claudia, what are you doing here? I thought you were stuck at the Warehouse doing chores?"

"I was," Claudia said.

"But apparently, a freak thunderstorm hit while she was there," Steve said. "And it was bad enough that she panicked and called me."

"Which makes me feel like a four year old," Claudia spat. "I can't believe I spooked at a thunderstorm."

"Yeah well, the new Tesla coil was going ballistic, wasn't it?" Steve added. Claudia shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, yeah," she admitted. "It was sparking and flashing with the thunder, and the emergency power shut off was activated."

"Dang," Pete said after swallowing his doughnut. "Nothing's creepier than being in that place alone in the dark. Have a doughnut, Claudia."

Claudia peered inside the bag, and fished out a maple bar.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"Steve, do you want one?" Myka asked. He shook his head.

"No thanks," he said. He sniffled again, and cleared his throat.

"Told you!" Pete said with a grin as he pulled out a chocolate doughnut. He seemed to think of that as a viable excuse to finish off the bag of doughnuts. Myka ignored him, pulling out a chair for herself and sitting down.

"The Tesla coil? It was off when we were there," Myka said. "Why do you think it reacted so severely?"

Claudia shrugged.

"It must have been the lightning," she said. "But I don't understand how the lightning got through the Warehouse roof. I mean, there are plenty of conductors, but it seems a little outrageous. I'm smelling artifact."

"Foh hut, an arefat at auses underorms?" Pete said, his mouth once again occupied. Myka looked at him for a moment.

"It seems like the only logical explanation," she sighed.

"Wait, what did he just say?" Steve asked incredulously.

"An artifact that causes thunderstorms," Pete repeated, finally finishing off his doughnut. "What artifacts do we have that might do that?"

"We should check the database," Myka said.

"Or we can call Artie," Pete added. "Much easier."

His partner sighed.

"Fine, let's call Artie then," she said.

**Artie**

Artie's day had started out well. He'd dropped Claudia off at the Warehouse with a list of chores, and spoken with the Regents about the incident with the knife. Apparently the man had unwittingly cut himself on the knife, permanently rendering him a solid gold statue. Of course, this wouldn't have been a problem if he hadn't been stolen.

However, several dozen phone calls and a hysterical girlfriend later, they had tracked down the buyer of the statue and retrieved it. The thief was also captured, and the money returned quietly. All together, it was a successful endeavor. The only hiccup was the girlfriend recognizing Artie's car outside the diner and storming in, demanding her boyfriend back.

That was where his day had gone south. It had been difficult to explain to the poor girl; how could they explain that her boyfriend was doomed to remain as a statue for years to come? The blade's touch would render a person or object to gold, but once the artifact was neutralized, the effects were reversed. However, if the knife broke the flesh, the change was permanent. Unable to console the girl, she'd stormed off in a tearful frenzy. The transport of the statue to the Warehouse had then been arranged, and the memory of the girl stood as the umpteenth reminder that Artie really ought to get a more generic looking car.

He was just getting into his car, his mind now on lunch when the Farnsworth rang. Irritated, he sat down in the seat and rummaged through his bag, looking for the blasted communication device.

_Probably Claudia moaning about being trapped in the Warehouse._

He flipped open the Farnsworth.

"This had better be important," he growled.

"Yeah, Artie, we're pretty sure it is," Myka said grimly as her face appeared on the screen. Pete's face hovered next to her, and he could see both Claudia and Steve peering at him in the background. Artie narrowed his eyes, confused.

"Claudia, what are you doing at the B&amp;B?" he demanded.

"There was a freak thunderstorm, Artie," Claudia explained. "I was testing out the new Tesla coil, and all of a sudden it was like a train was coming through the office and the coil was about to explode."

The older agent frowned.

"Artie, do you have any idea what artifact might do that?" Pete asked.

"Well, there's a spear...did you check the database?"

"See, that's what I said," Myka huffed.

"Yeah, well-" Pete began.

"Wait! Wasn't it the one that Claudia knocked over while we were looking for the Hookah to catch Alice? I remember because it electrocuted her," Steve said.

"Jeeze Jinksy, you've got quite the memory," Claudia said. "That was over six months ago! But yeah, that seems like it could be possible...the only thing is, if it were as powerful as the blast in here, I would have died on the spot."

"It could be magnified by something else," Artie said. "But it could also _be_ something else. Pete, Myka, you two are going to go check the area, look for any signs of a thunderstorm. Check the weather, news, anything for clues on how widespread this was. Steve and Claudia, you two will go check the Warehouse inventory. I'll check and see if this has happened anywhere else."

With that, he hung up on them, and sat in his car for a moment. For a split second, he had been excited to return to the B&amp;B and maybe relax for a few minutes. Heaving a sigh, he started the engine of the old car, and pulled out. There was never a chance at rest in this line of work.


End file.
